


The Time Between Dreams and Nightmares

by XtaticPearl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Crack, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Domestic Avengers, Fluff and Humor, Forehead Kisses, Friends to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Pajamas & Sleepwear, Pantsing, Possessive Behavior, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Tony Stark, Sleepy Kisses, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 20:36:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7136162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows that Bucky and Tony are dating. The Avengers, SHIELD, the not-so-Fantastic Four, Loki, the horse that Loki rode, Loki's strange daughter, Loki's stranger father, multi-headed Hydra, the media, the fanclubs. Everyone knows it. Even if they don't say it out loud.<br/>Sometimes it doesn't need to be said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time Between Dreams and Nightmares

Stranger sights were seen in the life of Phil Coulson. He would just like to clarify that fact. This was not the strangest thing in his life.

But Bucky Barnes removing his pants and giving them to Tony Stark, in the middle of a debrief, before calmly sitting back down in his  _In Case Of Emergency Pull Down_ underwear - that was kind of on the top five of Phil's strange things list.

"Barnes," he enunciated calmly, staring pointedly at the guy's face and not his crotch.

"Coulson," Bucky replied with a polite nod and continued filing his nails with a butter knife. Again, not the strangest thing Phil has seen.

"Stark," Phil tried again, this time looking at Tony, who had finally put on Bucky's roomy pants, shucking his own gel painted ones aside.

"Cou-cou," Tony answered with a nod of his own, sitting down and patting Bucky's shoulder as a thank you gesture. Bucky paused his filing to nod civilly at Tony before he resumed his manicure session.

"Pants," Coulson said finally, making the word a question with his tone and slightly raised eyebrow. Tony cocked his head to the side and frowned at Phil, looking him over completely before shrugging.

"Are they new? Fit you okay, but you could do better with your colors," the genius said with a slight wave of his hands in a  _meh_ gesture. Bucky looked up, a small, lazy glance at Phil and nodded once before paying attention to his nails.

"Your pants," Phil clarified and ignored Maria Hill's pointed cough to gesture at the waste of time, because Phil liked answers to mysteries of the world and the ex-Winter Soldier pantsing a conference room of Avengers and SHIELD directors was kind of a minor mystery. 

"Ah," Tony exclaimed quietly, looking down at Bucky's pants on his legs, observing them with a critiquing eye before looking up at Bucky who had raised an eyebrow at the genius, "well, they are a bit loose on the thighs aren't they? Buckaroo, you need to tone down your thighs of betrayal."

"Or you need to start my new regime and grow your own," Bucky quipped with a smug smirk and Tony rolled his eyes at the suggestion.

"As if," he scoffed and waggled his eyebrows, "I'm an ass man. I have glamorous glutes. My thighs are proportionate to my body and gluties, thank you very much. Ask Cap, he's the perfect critic of asses."

All eyes went to Steve, who turned red for a moment before sighing and hanging his head down in resignment. He turned tired eyes at Phil and gave him his best can-we-please-just-move-along-before-I-am-made-a-porn-fluffer-here look. Because that look existed when you had Tony Stark on the team. Clint even called him Porny Stark for that reason, something everybody regretted when Christine Everhart made that her magnum opus article topic.

"Stark, why are you wearing -"

"Oh my God, Phil!" Clint groaned exasperatedly, slamming both palms on the smooth table for effect, looking at his ex-handler with annoyed eyes, "Tony soiled his pants, shut up Stark that's what it's called, when the goo residue from the alien attack stuck to him, thanks to his tendency to run into doors that haven't been cleaned yet. He had goo-goo pants, Phil. He doesn't sit in goo-goo pants, yes, it has happened before and he fucking doesn't sit till he changes his fucking pants. Barnes here, had clean pants and was wearing an underwear without holes for once. He removed his clean pants, while still wearing his underwear, and gave them to soiled-pants Tony. Now, both of them are not wearing goo-goo pants and are sitting down for a fucking debrief which you are not starting because you want to know about Bucky Barnes pantsing us. It happens. It's over. Get over it and start the fucking debrief! Somebody start it because I need a sandwich RIGHT NOW!"

Tony stared at Clint with an amused expression before reaching for Bucky's ever-ready back-pack at his side, and pulled out a mega-sandwich, pushing it across the table to Clint.

"It has mayo instead of cheese," Bucky informed and peered into the back-pack before snagging a Gatorade from inside and thrusting it in Tony's hands.

"Aww, Rain Berry," Tony whined and pouted at Bucky who raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm sorry, are you whining about Rain Berry when  **you** were the one who used all the Mango Extremo to create the pulp-poop gun for the nerf-fight two days back?" Bucky asked primly, narrowing his eyes when Tony pawed at his arm repeatedly, "get your goo-goo paws off my leather jacket in the next 10 seconds or I'll cut off your pancakes till next week."

Tony stilled his pawing and his eyes grew larger, lower lip put out slightly.

Bucky didn't budge and rolled his eyes but did pet Tony's hair for a minute before focusing on Phil again.

"Focus, Bambi," he said mock-sternly but Tony grinned and batted his eyes at Bucky before focusing on Phil.

Phil blinked and was about to open his mouth again when Natasha spoke up.

"Mucus," she said shortly and Phil turned to her. The Black Widow looked irritated but her expression smoothed out as she cleared her throat and spoke swiftly. 

"The attackers were aliens with mucus spitting tongues and Commirat-powered guns," she began and the debrief proceeded with her explaining the entire attack and the roles executed by the Avengers. A couple of times, Phil was tempted to look back at Bucky and Tony, who seemed to be morse-coding each other on the table but when Steve cleared his throat for the fourth time, Phil felt a bit sheepish and focused.

The debrief lasted another twenty minutes before Maria Hill proclaimed it complete and let them all leave the room. As Phil saw them all file out, in various degrees of fatigue or adrenaline high, he focused again on Barnes and Stark.

"Are they..?"

"Yes, Phil, they are scratching each other's butts and backs," Hill said without looking up from her tablet, finally pausing to shoot Phil an exasperated look, "shit happens, get over it."

Phil uttered a silent "Huh" before turning back to look at the now empty doorway.

Still not the strangest thing, but really, really close.

************

"Whatcha doin?" Bucky drawled as he plopped on the couch, comfortably landing his head on Tony's lap and reading the genius' book upside down.

"Reading about Loki's horse-riding," Tony murmured, frowning at the text in concentration, "that sounds painful. Doesn't it sound painful?"

Bucky tilted his head and read the passage Tony pointed at, frowning a bit before looking thoughtful.

"Huh, I thought only werewolves could do that," he commented before lying back down and fiddling with Tony's  _Zombies Hate Fast Food_ t-shirt, "hey, you wanna watch Mean Girls?"

Tony paused his reading and peered down at Bucky with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it Wednesday?"

"Am I wearing pink?" Bucky countered and Tony flicked a finger on his jutting chin, "C'mon, I'm bored!"

"So read erotica with me," Tony shrugged and Bucky made a disgusted face, rubbing his nose into Tony's stomach.

"Urgh, everything in your books is boring and over-rated," he sniffed and Tony absently reached down to scratch at his two-day stubble, "Everything is so Grey."

"Better gay than Grey," Tony nodded solemnly, turning a page of his book before resuming his scratching duty, "so go troll fandoms on Tumblr. Been a couple of days since the internet broke."

Bucky considered that for a minute and looked up at Tony, reaching up and cupping his jaw, tilting the genius' face down to look at him.

"Extravagant marriage proposal rejected or drunk sex leading to epic romance?" he asked seriously and Tony furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully.

"Well, consider the hype potential," he said matter-of-fact, "marriage proposal rejection will lead to sympathy, dating offers, marriage offers, love confessions in sonnets and possible one-night stand offers. Drunk sex will lead to dog-hearing level screeching vines, anonymous hate asks, long lists and Discourses, not to forget fanfictions and video manipulations. Which do you want?"

Bucky pondered over it for a minute before morphing his face into a sad puppy expression and sniffing dramatically.

"Why did you reject my pure and rainbow-filled proposal, sugar lips?" he asked with an exaggerated quiver in his voice and Tony blew down a raspberry.

"You know," a half-amused voice came from the door and Bucky lifted his head to see Pepper walking in, "I don't know why I still bother with giving PR clarifications and statements. You two are anyway going to create a new scandal every week. I think it's better if we just drop trying to negate your rumors and let you two suffer the forest fire."

"Not our fault that we're bored, Virginia," Bucky said solemnly and Pepper narrowed her eyes accusingly at him.

"You, don't encourage it," she chastised the super-soldier who simply burrowed deeper into Tony's lap. The genius though, winked at Pepper.

"Aww Pep, you know it's fun," he smirked when her eyebrows raised, "what'll the internet do without spicy Avengers head-canons and rumors? How will the fandom survive? We are saving the world, one fandom at a time, Ms. Potts. Appreciate us. Respect us. Worship -"

Pepper's cushion sailed perfectly and hit Tony on the face before falling onto Bucky's face. The ex-soldier simply pulled it off and hugged it to his chest, poking at Tony's tummy, checking for god-knows-what. 

"You two are incorrigible," she said with a shake of her head and Bucky grinned happily at that.

"Really? Thanks!" he said with a bright smile and Tony grinned fondly at him before blowing Pepper a kiss.

The CEO opened her mouth and snapped it shut, mumbling to herself and sitting down on an arm-chair beside the couch. Nothing good came out of arguing with either Tony and Bucky when they were bored. Her experience with the Ikea fiasco had taught her that. She'd have better luck getting Steve to issue official statements of no-fraternizing in the Avengers.

"Ugh,fine," she sighed before toeing off her shoes and tucking them under her knees, "Wait, is that  _Loki's Sexcapades_?"

"Mmhmm"

"....Can I borrow it after you're done?"

Tony simply smirked and went back to his reading, scratching Bucky's jaw and letting him mouth Russian words into his stomach.

******

"Cap! Help! Zombie Stark is trying to kill me!" Clint shouted as he rushed into the common living room, ten minutes before movie-night began.

Steve raised his eyebrow and twisted around to see Clint run around the couch and collapsing between Bruce and Natasha, pulling himself closer to the Russian with strangely worried eyes.

"What did you -" Steve was cut out when they heard a familiar mechanical whine and everybody turned around to see Iron Man floating at the doorway.

"Barton, come out or I'll destroy you worse," Tony spoke through the suit and Bruce shared a look with Natasha before looking at Clint.

"Erm, Tony? Why are you in full suit?" the doctor asked calmly, feeling strange being calm without tea or weed.

"Hi Bruce, I'll explain the entire story to you, with graphs and charts. In just a minute. After I'm done killing Clinton," Tony said politely, the way he only did before he was about to blow something up.

Steve opened his mouth and thought better about it before turning down and looking at the burrowed Clint.

"What happened?" he asked with a sigh and shot Tony an annoyed look when he heard the repulsors getting ready, "Tony, pause mode. Clint, start talking."

"It's just a teddy bear," the archer moaned and Sam raised his eyebrows from beside Steve, looking at Tony who nodded in his armor, "it's not like I stole the real guy himself!"

"Dude, did you seriously steal Bucky Bear?" Sam asked incredulously and Clint shot him a glare which Sam snorted to in reply, "Glare all you want, mayfly, cause that's probably your last glare in this life."

"Sam..." Steve shot him a Disappointed Stare but Sam shrugged and gestured to Tony pointedly.

"Steve, you know what happens when that bear goes missing," Sam shot back with an unimpressed look, "The last time it was taken, by the genius Loki who was dumb enough to think that it was a portkey, we had to go through an hour of fire-fighting. To douse a toy store's aisle. Which had Loki's toys. We had to douse Loki toys, Steve. Do you know how traumatizing it was for Thor to see Loki's burnt dick?"

"Which shows the amount of sexualizing present in our toy industries actually," Clint piped up but went back to hiding when Tony growled and Sam shot him a glare.

Steve sighed and rubbed at his temple slowly, in regular circles.

"Clint, where is the toy now?" he asked in his best don't-fuck-with-me voice and Clint whimpered, more so when Natasha pinched his hip.

"I kind of, maybe, possibly, probably..."

"Barton!"

"Iuseditfortargetpractice!" Clint squeaked and Natasha, who was most experienced in Clint-speak groaned before whacking the archer on his head.

"You what?" Bruce asked in confusion.

"He used it for fucking target practice!" Tony snarled, sounding much more dangerous through the suit's filter, "Apparently, he thought that getting back at me for switching his Tom N Toms with Tassimo, was to steal  _my_ bear and use it as target for his EMP arrows. The ones I fucking made him, THREE DAYS IN ADVANCE!"

"Coffee," Clint whined softly and Natasha whacked his head again, hoping that he worked the way alarm clocks did.

"Okay, we can handle this," Steve said calmly, standing up with both hands raised in a surrender gesture at the clearly crazy Iron Man, "we can handle this. Tony? I understand that Clint is -"

"A fucking asshole who is going to die," Tony prompted in a calm and eerie voice which made Clint whimper once more.

"- a crazy, death-wish courting person," Steve corrected with the same calm voice, "but he is also our team-mate. Right? And what did we discuss about killing team-mates?"

Tony growled in response but Steve simply smiled, like you do to appease madmen.

"Tony, what did Bucky tell us in the last family meeting about killing team-mates?" he asked again, making sure to use Bucky's name in particular. 

"We can maim, bruise, singe and kick in the balls but we cannot kill," Tony recited grumpily and Steve smiled proudly, prompting Sam to shake his head tiredly.

"That's right," Steve said, ignoring Sam completely, "so why don't you go and remove that nice, brilliant, beautiful, -"

"Shiny?" Sam added dryly and Steve breathed in deeply to keep up the calm voice.

"-masterpiece of a suit," he continued, "so that we can all watch a nice movie. And then tomorrow, you can blow up Clint's arrows -"

"Hey!" Clint protested but immediately shut up when Natasha raised her hand to whack him again.

"- and let him use his old, not-upgraded, outdated arrows for the next mission, alright?" Steve suggested and saw Tony slowly lower his hands, the repulsors dying down.

The armor's head turned slightly and seemed to glare at the spot Clint was hidden in.

"I'm gonna go sleep with Bucky," he announced petulantly and Steve released a breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

"Alright, Tony, you do that," he said genially and saw Tony stare at him for a minute before turning around and flying out of the floor.

"Man, that guy has serious possessiveness issues," Clint commented as soon as the coast was clear, ungluing himself from Natasha's side and looking cocky again, offering Bruce a smirk, "Who wants to go drop into Barnes' room and mess up the not-so-sexy times?"

Bruce stared at Clint for a minute before looking at Natasha and pointing a finger at the archer's head.

"Hit him"

Natasha obliged and Steve conveniently ignored Clint's yells for another five minutes. Stealing Bucky Bear, he scoffed in his head, what an idiot.

Steve still had phantom pain from when he tried to take away Bucky's Iron man plushie. He was lucky on being the best friend. Imagine having a Russia-shaped bruise on your cheek. Chest was so much better, Steve thought with a small shudder. Sam noticed the shudder and eyed him knowingly. He had helped Steve, and the broken wings he had gotten were not so swell as well.

Sam really hoped Clint didn't find out about the new Iron Duck pillow Bucky had got Tony last week. Moping up blood from the floor was really tedious work.

*******

Rhodey was trying really hard to focus on his training. He truly was.

"Urgh, another one," he muttered under his breath and almost crashed into a hurdle when his eyes lingered a bit longer on his distraction.

"Colonel, you seem distracted," Friday informed him, an amused tone to her voice, "Should I reschedule your training for later?"

"No, no Fry, keep going," he said hurriedly, dodging the spring-obstacle, "just another hour to go."

"As you say," the AI responded before continuing after a pause, "Perhaps you would like to share your current... _distraction_? Might I be of help?"

Rhodey's eyes flickered to his right and he saw Tony fumble on another jab, giving room for Bucky to hook his hands under the genius' thighs and flip him over. Tony began laughing when Bucky pinned him to the floor with his thighs and leaned in to whisper something in his ears, his hands trailing up and down Tony's sides. Tony was ticklish in general, Rhodey could attest to that, but Bucky Barnes had a special way of tickling that would make Tony go breathless with laughter.

...Like now.

"Colonel?" 

Rhodey snapped back to the present and narrowly missed a stimulated fire-attack, swooping down and resuming flight. The advanced flight simulator was designed to help them practice commands for better flight and devise flight moves or routines. Rhodey would have sold his soul to get one for the base but Tony would rather eat his heart out than donate it to the military, especially not with General Ross waiting to run his greasy hands over any new Stark Tech he could misuse.

Which was why Rhodey had to come over to the Tower to use the simulator. Not that he minded though, it was always fun to take a break from the base and relax at the Tower with the team. Also, with Tony. When he wasn't stuck to Bucky Barnes.

"Hey Fry, what's the deal with Bucky and Tony right now?" he asked curiously, rerouting his flight sequence, "Are they getting any further than cuddles?"

The AI's pointed silence made Rhodey rethink his words and he laughed lightly.

"Friday, you know I'm not asking you to divulge Tony's sex life to me," he laughed before continuing, "I'm just asking if they have officially announced their status. To the team or anyone in general."

"Boss hasn't made any announcement regarding his romantic status, to my knowledge," Friday clarified before pausing, "but I did detect multiple occasions of lip-touching."

Rhodey almost lost control of his simulation then but quickly balanced himself.

"Lip-what?" he asked with a frown, "Fry, are you talking about kissing?"

"I believe that term is correct," the AI replied and Rhodey hummed thoughtfully.

"So, they're kissing, in front of everyone?" he asked slowly, because he knew that Friday would never divulge bedroom details. And neither would  _he_ ask, because he had walked into enough of Tony's sex life before, thank you very much MIT.

"That is correct, Colonel," Friday confirmed, "Boss has increased his kisses to Bucky by 12% as compared to last week's data."

"That's...there's a data record on Tony's kisses?" Rhodey wondered out loud before shaking his head, "Not important. Any more info you can give on these...12% extra kisses?"

Friday paused at that, like she was gathering her thoughts.

"They are more inclined towards the forehead than the cheek," she said at last and Rhodey frowned deeper.

"Wait, so you mean Tony's kissing Bucky on the forehead and the cheek?" he asked in surprise, "Not on the lips? Like French kissing?"

"I do not know the nationality of the kisses, Colonel," Friday replied dryly and Rhodey rolled his eyes, "but yes, Boss and Bucky have been sharing cheek and forehead kisses alone. In front of the others."

"Wow, that's...that's serious," Rhodey said to himself and thought back to all of Tony's relationships.

Tony had a flair for sex. Rhodey knew that. Everybody knew that. He loved kissing. His favorite taste, according to him, was that of a willing mouth. Rhodey took that with a grain of salt because Tony also said the same thing about a willing dick and vagina. That aside, Rhodey knew that Tony Stark was all flash and glitz when it came to flings. Dirty kisses, bedroom eyes, inappropriate dancing, indecent groping - you name it and he did it with ease. He was all about publicity. 

What he never did though, was intimacy. Cuddles, hugs, casual head massages, waist holding, hand holding, forehead kisses, cheek kisses - Tony didn't do that, unless you counted air kisses to the cheek, which he did just to nag about obnoxious perfumes and colognes later. Pepper called them sniff-kisses, which made Tony a dog, which he probably was in some parts. The point though, was that Tony didn't do intimacy. He was usually allergic to it.

Well, at least before this new thing.

"Hey Fry," Rhodey said after a while, eyes siding back to Bucky and Tony, who were now goading Natasha to sweep the floor with Sam, both men laughing into each other's shoulders when she finally did it, "Do me a favor?"

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Create an alert for me, private," he specified, "Name it... _Final Destination_."

"And what is this alert for, Colonel?"

"For the time Tony tells Bucky about his mom's favorite song," Rhodey said quietly with a thoughtful smile on his face, "Or plays the piano for him."

The AI was silent for a minute before she replied.

"Alert set, Colonel," Friday informed, a subtle note of approval in her tone that had Rhodey chuckling as he went back to focusing on the simulator.

Now all he had to do was wait for both the idiots to reach their destination through their own strange journey.

************

Tony was trying to stretch his hand out and tune down his morphine himself when he heard the first bang. Followed by a couple of thuds and some high-pitched shouts.

"Drop the hand," Bruce advised him calmly from his chair, without looking up from his tablet, "If he catches you doing it, it'll be worse than it already is going to be."

Tony tried to glare at Bruce but winced when his eye hurt. People always underestimated black eyes, he thought with a bit back groan.

"-get out of the way or I  **will** move you! -"

"Why do they even bother?" Bruce mused and Tony would have sighed in agreement if he didn't feel tired enough to not try that, "It's not like they've ever succeeded in keeping him out before."

"Image," Tony whispered hoarsely and Bruce looked up for a minute before shrugging and going back to the data he was reading.

When the door banged open, Tony didn't even bat an eye and Bruce stood up, without taking his eyes off the tablet, and turned to leave the room.

"Good luck," he offered Tony casually and paused beside Bucky for a second as he moved past him, "I think you should know that Tony was definitely  **not** trying to tune down the morphine and he definitely was  **not** going to steal the tablet that is  **not** hidden under the bed, to  **not** check the schematics of his suit damage. Just in case you have to catch him  **not** doing it again in the future forty eight hours."

Bruce patted Bucky's shoulder amicably and went out the door, shutting it behind him, even as Tony shot daggers at the back of his head. Before risking a glance at Bucky Barnes. Who was a poet's definition of angry dragon. In that he was spitting fire and would swing his horned tail in just a minute, destroying everything in his path.

"It was Hydra," Tony offered as explanation and Bucky's cold eyes froze another 10 degrees easily.

"It was a rigged building," he spoke slowly, voice Arctic cold and jaw clenched matching his clenched hands at his sides, "with hazardous biological gas that we were informed would cause instant death, if inhaled more than two ounces."

"Bucky" Tony tried calmly but Bucky simply took another step forward, dragging his foot to make a light squelching sound on the floor.

"Redwing scanned the building and informed us about it," the ex-soldier continued coldly, eyes boring into Tony's, "Friday did the same and confirmed it to all of us. To  **you**."

"Buckaroo..."

"Captain," Bucky spat the word and Tony would have winced if he had not known that it would only worsen things, "told us to stay away till Wanda had taken the gas out and Vision had helped to burn it out at a distance. Away from us. At a considerable distance, enough to not cause mortal damage."

"Barney-boy, I was -"

"You agreed with the Captain," Bucky ploughed on ruthlessly, taking another step forward, almost a foot away from the bed now, "Not once, but twice. You said okay twice."

"I saw the agent after that, Buck, you know why I -"

"-did that? Yes, I do,  _Iron Man_ ," Bucky ground out the last words, making it a sneer effortlessly, this time getting the flinch Tony had been trying hard to bite back, "I do get why you decided to rush into the building, without waiting for back-up. I get why you thought it was advisable to open up your face-plate in a building full of poisonous gas. I get why you decided to give your last ounces of precious air to a Hydra agent. I  **get** ,  _Mr. Stark_ , why you decided on your own, that it was more important to save a Hydra agent over saving yourself. Believe me, I do get it."

"James..." Tony sighed and finally Bucky covered the last foot of distance and loomed directly over Tony, clenching his hands at his sides so tight that Tony could see his nails digging into his palms, "You'll bleed. Stop that."

"Oh, you fucking care?" Bucky whispered with such contempt that Tony breathed in shakily, pressing his lips together tight to not let out any further emotion. He needn't have tried though, because Bucky was attuned to every cell of Tony, and could spot the hurt in his face before Tony could lower his eyes.

"Look at me," Bucky said quietly, the command clear in his voice. Tony refused to comply though, blinking his eyes fast to stop the threat of tears. "Tony, look. at. me.  _Please_." the last word was such a desperate plea that Tony shut his eyes tight before letting out a shaky breath and looking up at Bucky.

Who was literally shivering in his boots.

"James," Tony breathed out, the single word a plea, a prayer, a balm and a rebuke in itself. Bucky grit his teeth and shook his head viciously. Tony's eyes softened and he used every bit of energy he had left to raise his hand and reach out painfully to hold Bucky's clenched left fist, his metal arm.

"james, please," he whispered again and Bucky let out his breath in a shudder, his flesh hand coming up fast to cover Tony's trembling one on the metal fist.

"Fuck you, Tony," Bucky whispered furiously, heart broken and voice quivering as he felt the repressed tears blind his vision, "Fuck you so much."

"I'm sorry," Tony whispered softly and Bucky's shoulders sagged, his entire weight coming forward, head lowering above Tony, "I'm so sorry."

"Fuck you," Bucky repeated, though this time it sounded more like 'love you' and Tony used that opportunity to lightly tug at Bucky's metal hand, hinting the man to follow closer.

"Come on," he murmured and Bucky breathed in through another shudder, "Come on, baby please. I'm right here. Come on."

Bucky felt the last resistance leave his body and climbed onto the bed sluggishly, the drained anger giving way to absolute fatigue. Cautious of Tony's tubes and wires, he settled under the shorter man's arm, curling himself into Tony's warmth, metal hand clutching at Tony's robe collar.

"Please live," he whispered into Tony's chest, broken and tired but warm, "Please Tony, live. For me."

Tony felt his own tears cloud his tired vision but bent his head slightly to kiss Bucky's hair, a feather touch that he knew the man would feel with his enhanced senses.

"Okay," he promised quietly and curled Bucky closer to his heart, "For you". Bucky closed his eyes and clutched the robe tighter but nodded in agreement, matching his breathing to Tony's, slowly evening out to normalcy.

"Steve will kill you when he comes," Bucky informed quietly after a few minutes of just breathing in Tony's scent and listening to his heart beats.

"That's okay," Tony replied softly, "I'll tell him that I can't die now. I don't break my promises."

Bucky smiled at that, a small quirk of his lips against Tony's chest.

"You better not," he whispered and Tony hummed quietly, both of them trying to find a modicum of sleep, knowing that the nightmare was now over.

They had each other to protect themselves now.

************

New York during New Year's was a beautiful mess. Noises rose in cacophony and somehow managed to make beautiful music between kisses and laughter. People who didn't know each other, probably wouldn't remember each other after the last drink was downed, came together in celebration and blatant rebellion of an unpredictable year ahead.

It would suck. Everybody knew that years sucked, no matter how many resolutions you made.

Somehow, somehow despite that constant fact, people did wish and hope and pray and love, all as a ball of light dropped through the darkness and millions watched. Waiting for the countdown to end. To the last second to tick and the past to end.

In the middle of this New York, among the many proud buildings of Manhattan, stood an ugly Tower with a sole A gracing it. People came by to gawk at it on other days, some in wonder, some in annoyance and many in disbelief that it existed. It was a popular place among its peers, among the many other ugly skyscrapers of the foggy New York skyline.

To the quiet group of misfits living in the Tower though, it was home. A place they could wear Winnie the Pooh onesies and drink eggnog with more alcohol than normal. A fortress where Dance Revolution was common for mind-fucked archers and androids, as ex-spies and mind-controlling witches cheered on. It was a relief for rage that laughed in the face of a lost poker game and the thunder that purred into sleepy head scratches. The Tower was the constant for a frozen heart out of time and a depressed counsellor singing off-key karaoke as a bodyless voice beatboxed in sync. 

But most of all, it was a pause in time for two lovers of souls, finally meeting over notes of the piano, hearing an old mother's lullaby. It was the time between dreams and nightmares for two people who had always loved each other, in past, present and future, but kissed with the final second, to let the world celebrate it in the open.

"Happy every year, asshole," Bucky whispered against Tony's lips and the genius smiled into it.

"Happy every year, bubblebutt" he replied and Bucky snorted into the kiss, curling in closer as Tony turned to complete an old September's song.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what I've written. Maybe it's okay. No clue. I'd still like a feedback though <3 Lots of love, darlings!


End file.
